We're a family of readers.Meeting the most interesting people.Reading Romance, Contemp, Chick Lit & Erotica. Some can sizzle your blood. My hubby will be writing on Hist., Sports, & Mystery. My daughter on YA.What type of genres do you enjoy?Some good author interviews coming. We're on Twitter:@1RadReader59 Instagram:@1radreader and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/booksreviewedauthorstoo/. Enjoy reading, we will.

Jori Garrison trains dogs for Warrior Wolf Pack, which provides service animals for disabled veterans. Four years ago, she was wrongly convicted of a crime—thanks to her no-good ex-fiancé. Now she just wants to live her life in peace with her beloved dogs. No men, no complications. But it’s hard to play it cool when a lethally hot male is on her tail—and the attraction is fierce, mutual, and dangerous…

PRIMAL FORCE

Lauray "Law" Batisse is a Military Police veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan. Haunted by the loss of his K-9 partner in combat, he’s reluctant to accept a service dog named Samantha into his life. But once he meets her trainer—the gorgeous Jori Garrison—he can’t fight his primal instincts. And neither can Jori. This sexy alpha male might be the only man strong enough to unleash her desires. And when unseen enemies start hunting them down, he and his new K-9 partner might be her only hope… to survive.

Rad-Reader: I have enjoyed your books, how did you get
started in writing about K-9 teams?

D.D.: How
could I resist the offer from my editor to develop a Romantic Suspense series
about cool K-9 dogs and their hot guy handlers?
I love dogs. There’s been one
almost constantly in my life. Only one
problem. I knew next to nothing about
K-9 teams. There was research to be
done.

Rad-Reader: What made you decide to do a story about a
soldier with PTSD and his service dog?

D.D.: In doing research about professional K-9s, I came across
service dogs, who in their own way rescue and protect their persons on a daily
basis. The ability of these dogs just amazed me. They can remind a person to eat, take meds,
tell sometimes 15-20 minutes before a person is going to have a seizure and
alert so the person can take their meds.
They can open doors, help with laundry.
I could go on and on. Coupled
with that was my continued interest in handlers. I knew I wanted to honor the service of veterans who have
returned with disabilities but continue to be strong even as they struggle with
very real issues.. At the same time I
saw a wonderful story opportunity to introduce service dogs- not hunters/
trackers/ detection animals, but dogs specifically trained to assist people
with special needs. Primal Force was born.

Rad-Reader: How did you come up with Jori Garrison’s
Character for this book?

D.D.: Jori is a
woman with a “past”. Without giving too much away I wanted to develop a story
around a program I became familiar with while researching service animals. Patriot Paws is a service dog training program
in Rockwall, TX. I learned about service and PTSD dogs for veterans, and a
wonderful program they have that trains incarcerated women to be K9 handlers.
Enough said!

Rad-Reader: How did Lauray’s character come about, he has
many different levels and seems to evolve as the book goes along?

D.D.: Thanks
for recognizing that! I was shooting for complexity in Lauray. He has returned
home from combat with serious physical and emotional damage, and his struggle
to regain normalcy, and his willingness to accept help (both human and K9) is
part and parcel of that struggle. Vets with PTSD have serious issues, but they
can be helped and even become better human beings with that help. That’s
Lauray. At least, I hope so!

Rad-Reader: You have Jori Garrison’s character working at
a training center for service dogs. Did
you go and observe the training or did you know someone in that field?D.D.: Yes. It
was a total learning experience! I received invaluable help from several
service dog facilities in the North Texas area, but particularly Patriot Paws in Rockwall, Texas. And people told me stories of their
experiences both training and using service dogs.

Rad-Reader: The idea for the voice of the dog this
time. Did that just happen as you were
writing or did you go back and add it later?

D.D.: I did not set out to use a dog’s point of view. I try in every book to give the dogs unique
personalities but remain dogs. It occurred to me as I was well into
the book that the K-9 in the story (A Golden Doodle named Samantha) had a lot
to “say” about the hero, Lauray, and how he fit into her world. Again, one of
the things I heard over and over with service dogs is that the dog chooses the
person, not the other way around. The
dog knows who need them. What better way
to express that than to have the reader be able to get into Samantha’s head for
a bit? I think it adds an important element to this particular book. And boy,
it was fun to write!

Rad-Reader: The work program you have Jori’s character
getting started in was that a real program or just for the book?

D.D.: It’s a
real program in Texas. I took some liberties (creative license?) in setting this
particular program in Arkansas. But
there are prison programs in AR, and many other states that use inmates to
train dogs. Some of them help
rehabilitate rescue animals so that they can be placed with new families. Everything I’ve heard and read says these
programs help inmates as well, some of whom, often men, aren’t good with
people. The dogs give them something to
care for, express their emotions with, and vice versa.

Rad-Reader: You have Lauray Batisse character coming from
a family that owns a kennel and training center is that based on one that you
know of first hand?

D.D.: No, I didn’t
have first-hand knowledge of a kennel like that one. Harmony Kennels is purely
fictional but based on some research I have done on similar businesses. The
kennel and the owners are a common thread that links all the stories in the K-9
Rescue Series together, although each stands on its own.

Rad-Reader: Do you come up with a storyline first or the
characters when you write?

D.D.: That’s
tough to say, since they are so interdependent. I think the storyline comes
first most of the time. Actually, for
these books, the dog comes first.
Because I want to show off the K-9 team and dog’s skills, and have those
skills be integral to the suspense elements, I start there and build my other
characters. In my next project, however,
the characters came first. Yardley Summers, the heroine, is a common thread
throughout the K-9 rescue series and “Rival Forces” (May, 2016) is her story.

Rad-Reader: The issues that Lauray and some of the other
characters have with losing an arm or leg seemed very real when you wrote
about them. Did you speak to someone
about those issues? Even the care or
treatment I did not know.

D.D. Research, research,
research. Books, videos, magazine articles and yes talking with people. I never ask for personal experiences. I always phrase my question as “What are some
of the issues . . .” or “What should I keep in mind . . .” and then let the
person I’m talking with tell me as much or little as he/she is comfortable with
sharing. It took a lot of my time in
trying to be authentic about the issue of prosthetics and the unbelievable
series of surgeries and physical therapy that these wounded men and women have
to endure to make effective use of them. I didn’t want to gloss over the hard
things. But I hope I used them to show
how much can be overcome, and dealt with.
And that a new prosthesis doesn’t suddenly make you the Bionic Man or
Woman. Law is cranky because he’s in
pain almost constantly. That doesn’t
stop him from being sexy as anything, or falling in love, or wanting to be
whole again. Jori can look past his
stone walls to see the man inside who yearns to be loved.

Rad-Reader: Certain parts of the book seemed so real,
like the wife who wanted to give back the dog because she felt she was losing
contact between her and her husband.
Then Jori took her out for a makeover and her husband was like WOW! Was
that a story you heard about or made up for the book?

D.D.: It was a
bit of both. I had a conversation with a trainer at Patriot paws who told me
how often the spouse needs as much help as the wounded veteran. In some cases
the spouse (or whoever the primary caregiver is) feels a sense of loss that her
/ his “job” is being taken by a dog! It takes a delicate and steady hand to
bring these folks around, have them understand that the animal may be allowing
for a resumption of a more normal life.
I thought of the makeover on the spur of the moment. But as women we all know how even small
changes on the outside can make us feel happier on the inside. Doable things. It was more her taking a moment to remember
to look after herself than the actual results.

Rad-Reader: In the book you have the service dog pick out
Lauray, is that what actually take place?

D.D.: Absolutely. The saying is “the dog chooses the client”. In
most cases there is one or more “pairing days” when several animals who are
ready to be assigned interact with a group of veterans who are ready to take on
take on their K9 assistance animal. Humans and animals interact for 30 minutes
or so in a room, and pretty soon the trainers can tell who goes with whom! It’s
quite interesting. Some dogs won’t even
give another person a chance once they’ve chosen their person.

Rad-Reader: When you have Lauray get back in touch with
his Indian side with the help of his sister and Jori along with his unit. I thought that was a good touch. How did that part come about in the story?

D.D.: It was
just an idea I had. I knew where I wanted the story to be set and I had done
some research on Native American tribes for Lauray’s background, and their
customs and mores. It all fit together
nicely. Not every therapy fits every
person. The therapy I write about “The
enemy away” ceremony is program used by Native American veterans with the
support of the Veterans Administration.

Rad-Reader: Do you have a say in the content of your
books or do your publishers want them to be a certain way?

D.D.: After
the initial idea was pitched to me to do a romantic suspense series involving
K-9s, it was all mine! I have complete control over the content. They have become more realistic and grounded,
edgy, but I hope I tell a great love story while having fun putting my K-9 teams
through their paces.

Rad-Reader: How difficult was it for you to get published?

D.D.: Well,
I’m a multi-published author. Back in the day, I was able to sell my first book
(a Historical Romance) to the very first publisher I approached (Dell). After
that, I have written about 40 books in various genres. HOWEVER I am proud to
say that the editor who bought the K-9 Rescue Series, did not know who I was,
and bought the idea strictly on the merits of my proposal and written
chapters. My agent, Denise Marcil (New
York), gets a lot of the credit, too.

Rad-Reader: Since your books have been published, is
there anything that you have gotten for yourself? A guilty pleasure?

D.D.: Wow.
What a question! Of course it’s a pleasure to be published… I wouldn’t classify
it as “guilty”. Everyone likes to have
their ego stroked and seeing my books in print strokes mine pretty nicely! I
rewarded myself with a beautiful hand-made necklace from Guatemala after
publication of the second novel, “Force of Attraction.”Never meant to imply your writing to be a guilty pleasure at all but an item of guilty pleasure for a job well don't. You know like they say, "I made it I accomplished my goal." We are glad that you did that for yourself for sure. You deserved it for a job well done.

Rad-Reader: What type of dog do you own if any?

D.D.: My
family has always had dogs- mutts, a Cocker Spaniel, and two Soft Coated
Wheaten Terriers that were breed rescues. Unfortunately, Zoe, our last Wheaten,
died earlier this year at age 14, and I haven’t had the heart to get a new dog
– yet!So sorry to hear that our pets do become a part of the family. Ours, he is the only one that doesn't know he is not human.

Rad-Reader: If your book was made into a movie who would
play:

Jori: Evangeline Lilly

Lauray:
Alex Meraz

D.D.: My choice is soooo
hard to make.Jori: Emily Blunt

Louray: Joe Manganiello

Rad-Reader: What song out now makes you think of your
book?

D.D.: All Tied Up – Robin Thicke
Lauray needs to loosen up.

Rad-Reader: What is your next project?D.D.: My next
book in the K-9 Rescue Series is titled Rival
Forces and it is Yardley Summers’s story. She is the woman who owns
Harmonie Kennels, and is the one thread that runs through all the books. It is
scheduled for May 2016 release. It will feature not one but two love interests,
and not one but two (very different) K-9s! I’m very excited!

D.D.: Everywhere!
Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Google Books etc. Print, digital, and
audio. Take a trip to my homepage and
click on the “books” tab (here it is: http://www.ddayres.com/#!books/cnec
) - each book has its own page with
“buy” links included.

A veteran author of
romance and women’s fiction, D.D. Ayres is new to Romantic Suspense. She
believes the lure of romance is always the human connection. Put that
connection in physical jeopardy, and we learn a bit more about who we really
are.

With her K-9 Rescue series,
D.D. hopes you will enjoy her sexy, suspenseful portrayals of K-9 teams at
their best.

D.D. lives in Fort Worth,
Texas with her husband.

I would like to take the time to thank D.D. for being with us.

This book like other books that have to do with our service men and women that serve and help them with services, left an impact on my husband. He is very enthralled with Indian studies also so this was also very interesting to him. So you provided a double header. That is a plus. Thanks again and now you also are apart of our crazy family.

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Still figuring this out guys thanks for sticking it out with us. I am lucky to be able to read interesting books,write reviews,post on Net Galley, Amazon, Facebook & Goodreads. In my spare time I will now be blogging as well as being a Mom,Wife &running a small busniss. My daughter who is an advanced 12 yr. old will review YA books. My husband will review History, Sports & Mystery.

LET’S WELCOME ANDY PELOQUIN AUTHOR OF: Rad-Reader: What was your inspiration for the character the Hunter? Andy: It al...

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